subject: Are You Engaged? [print this page] Author: Kingsford Consulting Author: Kingsford Consulting
Shorten your sales cycle and increase your closing ratio. A customer engagement model is quite simply how you relate to your prospect from the moment of identification to consummation of the sale. In some situations it is fairly simple and in others very complex. A complex sales situation is one in which multiple decision makers or influencers are involved, the purchase is mission critical, strategically important or it simply falls into a new category for the prospect. By using a defined methodology to approach a complex sale, you can make sure you are covering all the bases in the selling situation, thereby increasing your probability of a successful sale. You are also establishing a baseline against which your subsequent sales processes can be measured and improved. (Remember you cant manage what you dont measure.) An effective engagement model will: Increase the efficiency of your sales process Shorten the time to closing Reduce selling costs Increase the return on investment in each sales person Allow you to establish a best practices model Engage the whole company effectively in the sales process The basic stages in a customer engagement model are: 1. Qualification (more driven by the selling organization then the purchasing organization) You have to qualify your target customer and youll do that against your market positioning statement, and your criteria for selling to an organization. So, if you havent gone through the qualification process (qualitative and quantitative measures) then you may well be wasting your time. Make sure the qualification stage is done first. 2. Initiation If you cant initiate a two-way conversation and exchange information, there is no point in proceeding with the rest of the sale, there has to be willingness to share before you can move on. 3. Credibility Building This falls into two sequential elements, Corporate Credibility and Product/Service Credibility. You have to make sure the prospect views your organization as a credible supplier to their organization. Should the product or service fit their needs, they will feel good about doing business with you. Establishing corporate credibility upfront in the process is vitally important. Once you have done that, then you can start talking about the product or service and can demonstrate your product is credible, proven, tested, etc. 4. Excitement This is the time to create some pull, some emotion on the part of the customer you have to make them want it! Many companies overlook this important element. 5. Business Approval During this stage, the rough terms and conditions need to be discussed and budget pricing needs to be tabled. (Some call this the blink test). Before you start putting a formal proposal together you need to know if the deal will fly. 6. Negotiation If you are not negotiating, you arent selling. This stage includes proposals and exchange of documents. Depending on the market you are selling into, this stage can take days or months. Make sure that you have the time properly factored into your plans. If a sales person is forecasting a close next week and they are not in the negotiation phase it wont happen. 7. Test or Pilot There is always a test period, whether it is implicit or explicit so that the client can de-risk the deal. Know this upfront and plan it into your engagement cycle. You need to establish well defined criteria for success. 8. Payment Received Once you have passed through all the engagement stages and payment is received you have but two stages left. 9. Follow-On Order -You know you have a real customer when you get a followon order. This is a milestone that should be in the engagement cycle. 10. Customer Management Plan As every sales person knows, the last part of the job is the paperwork. Ensure that your sales staff sets up a proper customer management program to keep the client happy and profitable. Kingsford Consulting has created an approach to customer engagement called the Rapid Account Penetration Plan (RAPP). We work closely with each client to identify the buying processes in each of their target verticals. We then map this against the model above and identify the points of influence at each stage. Our RAPP models often identify 30 to 40 discrete steps or milestones that must be passed in order to close a sale. In our approach, the Account Manager manages the process and leverages all the resources in the organization to move the sale forward. This can include connecting accounts receivable with the prospects accounts payable, R&D with their CTO, shipping with receiving, President with Division manager and so on. A solid relationship must be built between all levels in both organizations for the deal to go forward. Action Items Determine if you have a simple or complex sales situation Identify the major milestones Identify all the points of influence between the milestones Empower your sales team to leverage all corporate resources Record progress against the model Constantly update and tighten the process Expect shorter sales cycles and higher closing rations Published in November 2008. http://kingsfordconsulting.ca/?p=170About the Author:
Kingsford Consulting Ltd. is a Strategy and Business Development firm that provides business planning, market research and strategy development services.
